Current Events > Should I drop this class?

(+) Yeah! (+)

It's a Java 2 class. I haven't met the professor yet, the class doesn't start until tomorrow. Took the Java 1 class last semester and aced it. I originally was excited, but noticed a couple things that make me reluctant.

Difficulty of Class:

• The class is very strict, where 50% of the grade is the exams.
• The final exam is optional, but is factored into the average whether you do well or not. It does not replace the worst exam (like most classes I've taken).

Professor (according to the syllabus):

• Says he doesn't like repeating information.
• Claims office hours are for asking specific questions, not to repeat course material. If someone doesn't have a specific question, he will ask them to leave.
• If a student asks whether they have a chance of passing, or what grade they need to pass, he will tell them to do the math themselves, it's not his job to do the math for them.
• I looked him up on Rate My Professor. He has an overwhelming amount of 1 star reviews. People say he expects students to learn from the textbook, not from him. He talks down when people ask obvious questions, and he grades very harshly. To be fair though, these are just anecdotes.

I will see what the professor is like. It's not fair for me to judge without meeting him, but the RMP does match the vibe I got from the course information sheet.

A teacher who does not like to teach is not a teacher imo. Hes supposed to be going over the basics, walking you through things step by step. If they dont do that then they aint teaching you nothing

What is your major? Is this a (weed-out) course primarily for STEM majors, or is it a different track?

Oof, if you were good with the Java 1 material and picked some/most of it up on your own, might be worth it to trudge through.

If you struggled with it or were overly reliant on existing websites to inform your work, might due to see if there's another professor that covers it.

If not, still might be worth trudging through now while the material is fresher than later when you may have forgotten fundamentals

That person seems like an asshole, I would not take that class with him.

If a student asks whether they have a chance of passing, or what grade they need to pass, he will tell them to do the math themselves, it's not his job to do the math for them.

Now of his rules this is the only one that can get behind all of the others seem horrible.

You don't have a professor, you have a parasite with a textbook.

Best advice I'd give to my past self: Pick lecture sections according to professor, not material. You'll enjoy the course more if you have a genuinely great professor.

With that said, if it's a class you need for a major, or if scheduling really forces you into a particular section, it happens sometimes. But there are many courses for which I'd picked a different instructor, or just taken a different class entirely.

Chunky posted...

I looked him up on Rate My Professor. He has an overwhelming amount of 1 star reviews.

personally, i wouldnt risk it. Maybe wait next quarter/semester.

you can learn all programming stuff from free online classes

First off, bit of a red flag in that 50% of the grades are covered by exams. It should be more like 40% Assignments, 40% Exams and 20% various other things.

If you do decide to take his program, cheat. If he doesn't allow laptops in class, bring some sort of recorder with good audio so you can go back and review what he said in class. My classmates had a system where 1 of us would find the textbooks online for free, another would pay attention to notes being written and the third would review the textbook while our instructor was teaching, so we'd cover everything.

Course those same students were assholes who spent more time talking about video games than actually dividing up our group assignments.

Dude sounds like an asshole. His policies are literally the opposite of everything my university recommends of us.

Tc , community college?

tankboy posted...

What is your major? Is this a (weed-out) course primarily for STEM majors, or is it a different track?

I'm a Computer Science major.

wackyteen posted...

Oof, if you were good with the Java 1 material and picked some/most of it up on your own, might be worth it to trudge through.

If you struggled with it or were overly reliant on existing websites to inform your work, might due to see if there's another professor that covers it.

If not, still might be worth trudging through now while the material is fresher than later when you may have forgotten fundamentals

I'm probably going to feel it out and see what it's like.

cjsdowg posted...

Now of his rules this is the only one that can get behind all of the others seem horrible.

My math professor would say "let's see how your situation looks, and see if it's possible to pass". I prefer that. It makes them seem like they care about their students, unlike this guy.

AlienDestroyer4 posted...

Best advice I'd give to my past self: Pick lecture sections according to professor, not material. You'll enjoy the course more if you have a genuinely great professor.

With that said, if it's a class you need for a major, or if scheduling really forces you into a particular section, it happens sometimes. But there are many courses for which I'd picked a different instructor, or just taken a different class entirely.

I agree, but unfortunately he's the only professor that teaches this class (I think anyway, I need to look further, but I'm pretty sure). I 100% agree with you though, the professor totally matters. I've weeded out many bad situations thanks to Rate My Professor.

Ivany2008 posted...

First off, bit of a red flag in that 50% of the grades are covered by exams. It should be more like 40% Assignments, 40% Exams and 20% various other things.

If you do decide to take his program, cheat. If he doesn't allow laptops in class, bring some sort of recorder with good audio so you can go back and review what he said in class. My classmates had a system where 1 of us would find the textbooks online for free, another would pay attention to notes being written and the third would review the textbook while our instructor was teaching, so we'd cover everything.

Course those same students were assholes who spent more time talking about video games than actually dividing up our group assignments.

100% agree with this. 50% is insane. I had another class where it was worth 60%.

Smallville posted...

Tc , community college?

Yes

Can't you drop the class in like a few weeks time?

Smallville posted...

Can't you drop the class in like a few weeks time?

Yup I can. I will definitely feel this out before I make any decisions.

Chunky posted...

* The final exam is optional, but is factored into the average whether you do well or not. It does not replace the worst exam (like most classes I've taken).

Wow, so you can opt out if you like your grade. Thats a generous deal.

Professor (according to the syllabus):
* Says he doesn't like repeating information.
* Claims office hours are for asking specific questions, not to repeat course material. If someone doesn't have a specific question, he will ask them to leave.

Ew, sounds like a bad teacher

* If a student asks whether they have a chance of passing, or what grade they need to pass, he will tell them to do the math themselves, it's not his job to do the math for them.

I agree with this. Just do your best. Knowing what percent you need on the final often doesnt help you actually achieve that grade.

Chunky posted...

100% agree with this. 50% is insane. I had another class where it was worth 60%.

Oh no no, you don't know the definition of insane. Finals of one of my courses we had to get into a Zoom call with 150 other people. For context our class was 25 people. They actually put us on a zoom call with 5 other classes. We were not allowed to turn off our camera, we were not allowed to mute our mics. So you had 150 people typing away while your trying to do a final exam over zoom because of Covid.

I messaged the instructor privately and told him that I'm unplugging my headphones and turning off my secondary screen because I have extreme ADD and if I have to listen to 150 people typing I'm not going to be able to finish the test.

But that's not the insane part. The insane part is that after you were finished with the exam, you WERE NOT allowed to leave the call. You were expected to sit there with your hands crossed until at least 3/4 of the group finished. Our professor afterwards tried failing people afterwards because he claimed he could see Chrome browser tabs in the reflection of students glasses. This guy was going back over the recording like a psychopath and freeze framing the video to look at the reflection of peoples glasses to fail people.

And this asshole still has a job despite being reported. Fuck that college.

Chunky posted...

Yes

Wait this is a community college. That is even more of a red flag. Community colleges normally offer classes for a wider range of students . Some of them would need more help than others. While others can breeze through things. To be that hard ass in a community college is so many red flags.

Ivany2008 posted...

And this asshole still has a job despite being reported. Fuck that college.

Wow that is crazy. I know my school had this thing where your camera just recorded you. And if it picked up anything funny it flagged you. I don't know if the professors ever looked at it or not. But they said they did. That seems a lot better then that. Also a lot easier for the teacher.

Ive had professors like this, honestly I'd probably do pretty well in a class like this so I'm biased as hell. Programming is basically the only thing I'm good at lol.

Stick with it.

I'm gunna sound like an asshole, but let's be real,
If you don't know how to use the Internet or the official reference manual, no company will want to hire you.

Hell, the fuckin game industry itself is trying to shave off programmers.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/7/73422fe6.png